Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production

Transcription

1 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN ), Vol. IX, No. 3, 2017 DOI: Full Text: Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production Jesús Eduardo Oliva Abarca Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México ORCID ID jesus.olivaabr@uanl.edu.mx Received August 09, 2017; Revised September 02, 2017; Accepted September 09, 2017; Published September 20, Abstract This study aimed to analyze the attitudes, skills, and practices, which an aspiring cultural agent must accomplish in order to gain a position in the field of cultural production and to be credited as a functional actor of the art system. The research was limited to the Mexican state of Nuevo León, with the objective of obtaining an overview of the local artistic field from their own actors experiences, opinions, and perspectives. The research results demonstrated that the aspiring cultural agents must be capable of fulfilling different roles, being creators, as well as their own promoters and managers at the same time. Also, they must be involved in institutional events in order to be recognized by other cultural agents. Finally, the organization of the local artistic field is defined by intrinsic cultural factors, as well as by extrinsic political and economic circumstances. Keywords: art world, cultural agent, distribution context, field of cultural production, production domain 1. Introduction As any other human activity, art is made up of regulated practices, norms, and codes that give it a status as a system, that is, as a structure composed of elements which interact with each other through dynamic relationships. The analysis of these social interactions of the art systems has become the central interest for many scholars who no longer conceive the artistic field as a realm separated from the other domains of human activities. Despite the fact that all theoretical approaches recognize the autonomy and the autotelic orientation of the art worlds, it is also a widely accepted idea that art systems are closely related to the economy, the politics, and all the other spheres that constitute human societies. Consequently, art studies have shifted from a paradigm in which attributes such as beauty or harmony were viewed as immanent traits of the artwork, and artists were considered as exceptionally creative individuals. Nowadays, the sociological approaches to art are gaining an increasing acceptance, as the processes of production, distribution, and reception of artistic utterances have become the main research interest. Together with the above, it seems to be a renewal of the classic ideas of culture as the finest representation of progress and human development. At least, that is what UNESCO advocates with its characterization of culture as a transformative power with the potential to propel the local economies and the social welfare of all the countries (UNDP, 2013). This line of thought is based on the concepts of cultural and creative industries as well as its respective AesthetixMS This Open Access article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License ( which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For citation use the DOI. For commercial re-use, please contact editor@rupkatha.com.

2 17 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, V9N3, 2017 economic paradigms, the cultural and the creative economies (O Connor, 2010). Since many governments have acknowledged cultural and creative activities as the roots of a new economy (UNDP, 2013), art worlds have changed their values and discourses, therefore, artists have also changed their practices to achieve a position in the art system and to fulfill its values (Stallabrass, 2004). This study centered on the individuals whose aspiration is to enter and to position themselves in the field of cultural production, and to be credited as cultural agents, whether as artists, as cultural promoters or managers, as gallerists, or as art educators. The research was limited to the Mexican state of Nuevo León and was directed towards the cultural sector of the visual arts. Nuevo León, along with Mexico City and Guadalajara, is one of the most active states in the country, both in economic and cultural terms. The main purpose of this study was to learn the means and values required to get a position and to be credited in a local field of cultural production. A secondary goal was to obtain insight into the artistic field by gathering data from its own actors Context of research The cultural life in the Mexican state of Nuevo León has been supported mainly by local businessmen. Although there are government initiatives to propel cultural production, the public management usually centers its interest and funds in the manufacturing industry. Being a highly industrialized state, artistic and cultural development are often viewed as secondary activities or as luxury hobbies. Despite this, there are two consolidated public institutions that are geared towards the development of new artistic talents and to cultural promotion: CONARTE (the acronym for Consejo para la Cultura y las Artes de Nuevo León), and UANL (the acronym for Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León). Along with these, the local artistic domain is composed of the private initiatives founded and managed by wealthy personages, and the independent small-size cultural initiatives. As a field (Bourdieu, 1993), the artistic sphere is constituted by the dynamic relationships between its actors, as well as by the sociohistorical conditions in which it develops. To provide a more comprehensive overview of the artistic field of Nuevo León, it is pertinent to address its most relevant institutions. From the 40s to the 60s, the SAT (the acronym for Sociedad Artística Tecnológico), and Arte A.C., were founded both by the initiative of local impresarios (Amores, 2007). The first one, the SAT, was established with the support of the ITESM, a private university, and all of its business partners as well as its benefactors. The association aims to promote artistic events to a broad audience. On the other hand, the original purpose of Arte A.C. was to offer free drawing and painting courses to art enthusiasts and to exhibit their works. Nowadays, both the SAT and Arte A.C. are influential cultural institutions in the region (Amores, 2007). By the 70s, the Centro Cultural Alfa was founded. Created to attract investors and business associates for its sponsors, it quickly changed its orientation from commercial activities to cultural events, such as documentary projections and exhibits of scientific devices and archeological findings (Amores, 2007). Together with the actions of local businessmen, there was an increase in government participation in culture. In the same period, the Dirección Estatal de Cultura, the predecessor of CONARTE, was created with the objective of propelling the artistic and cultural life of the state (Rubio Elosúa, 2000). In addition, the UANL played an important role in the cultural field of Nuevo León, even before the establishment of the institutions listed above (Amores, 2007). From the decade of 1940

3 18 Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production to the present day, the UANL has worked actively for the development of artistic talents as well as for the promotion of arts and culture in the region. The MARCO (the acronym for Museo de Arte Contemporáneo), along with the Parque Fundidora are noteworthy cases of an alliance between the government s and the businessmen s interests in the cultural life of the state (Nivón Bolán and Villalobos Audifred, 2006). The cultural field of Nuevo León is constituted by the interactions between public and private agents. However, in comparison to the businessmen s actions, the cultural participation of the government may seem an incipient effort. Under these circumstances, the local field of cultural production appears to be divided into two factions with seemingly opposing ideologies (Stallabras, 2004). On one side, those who seek the fulfillment of cultural and aesthetic values and are engaged with the social transformation. On the other side, there are those who try to accomplish both aesthetic and cultural goals as well as commercial interests. Despite their differences, both sides search for alternatives to fund their initiatives. Many aspiring cultural agents resort to self-management strategies, mainly due to the shortage of public support for the arts and culture Literature Review There are varied approaches to research in the artistic domain. Artistic systems were and are studied from different perspectives: from philosophy to sociology and psychology, and even from an economic point of view, many disciplines have assumed the task of explaining how art, artists, and artworks are validated, that is, how a specific type of activity, a kind of individual and a peculiar object are credited as being artistic or cultural. For this study, the disciplinary approach chosen was sociological, specifically, the one focused on the examination of the culture as a system of hierarchies and stratifications (Alexander, 2003) in which its actors displace and interact in diverse ways. The works of Bourdieu are a required reference for the analysis of the elements, agents, and factors that constitute the space of cultural utterances. His notion of the field of cultural production describes the artistic or the literary domains as fields of forces and struggles (Bourdieu, 1993). In this space of symbolic practices, the relationship between the involved actors depends on the positions they take within the field (30). The theoretical elaboration of Bourdieu s ideas supposes an alternative for those art theories based on subjectivist or immanent criteria. Moreover, the concept of field, as was formulated by Bourdieu, implies that artworks have not an inherent value, rather an artwork must be recognized and credited as such by both heteronomous and autonomous principles of hierarchization, the first referring to economic or/and political success and the second to the degree of consecration or prestige achieved by the artist (38). In addition, Bourdieu explains that there are three principles by which an individual is legitimized as a cultural agent. The first one corresponds to the acknowledgement given by other cultural agents, whether as collaborators or even as competitors. The second one refers to the recognition granted by the cultural elites and the public and private cultural entities. The third is determined by the popular or massive choices and preferences (50-51). These principles could aid to examine the interactions of cultural agents with other cultural agents, with cultural authorities, and with the audiences. It is necessary to note that Bourdieu s thesis of field of cultural production was a key theory for this study. Although Bourdieu s theory of the field of cultural production is presumably the most accepted among sociologists and art scholars, there have been other attempts to analyze the social functioning and validation of art, artists, and artworks. Following a similar theoretical orientation, Luhmann (2000) explores the art world as a social system of artificial objects

4 19 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, V9N3, 2017 produced from human creativity, that is, artworks, which peculiarity is to establish an autotelic reality (142). From this point of view, the function of art is to introduce a relation between reality and fiction through the artwork, which could be conceived as an artifact that imitates and differentiates from reality at the same time (167). It seems, from Luhmann s perspective, that the most distinctive trait of the art system is its excess of communicative possibilities (299), quality that also explains why artistic manifestations are perceived as unique and unrepeatable events comprehensible only for those who know or recognize the codes of the art system (187). Luhmann s theory of the art system may provide a solid background to analyze artistic utterances as communicational situations, allowing the understanding of relationships between artists, cultural intermediators, and audiences. Another theoretical approach to comprehending the social dimension of art was Dickie s institutional theory, according to which art is an institutional practice that may produce aesthetic artifacts that will become successful artworks or may fail to be recognized as such (Dickie, 2001). As Dickie states, any theory of art is also an evaluation of the validity of the practices that could be termed as artistic (98), therefore, every artwork must be exposed in a space where it can be assessed by anyone involved in the art world (107). Similarly, Benjamin s essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction also addresses the analysis of artwork assessment. Tracking down the ceremonial origins of art, and later, its public use, Benjamin (1969) distinguishes between a cult value and an exhibition value. With the popularization of the photographic camera and cinema, artworks become more accessible to the masses. This mechanical reproduction influenced both audiences response to art as well as the artist s creative practices (Benjamin, 1969). As Bourdieu demonstrated, the artistic field is determined by both internal and external operations and factors. It could be inferred from this and from the theories reviewed above that the positioning and accreditation of a cultural agent as such depends on the values and assessment practices that develop inside and outside the field. The processes and judgement criteria of the artistic field have changed significantly due to the creative employment of technological advancements, the social and cultural changes that have reshaped our daily life, the economic global integration known as globalization (Hartley et al., 2013), and the new models of cultural production and consumption labeled either as cultural industries (Throsby, 2003) or creative industries (Davies and Sigthorsson, 2013). In this context, artists became a substantial part of what Florida (2012) has called the creative class, a new class composed of intellectual workers, people committed to the creation of new ideas, innovative technology, and creative contents (8). Furthermore, these creative workers assume and promote values usually attributed to artists, such as individuality, self-expression, diversity, and openness (56-58). In addition to those mentioned, creativity, as well as innovation, are the main values that cultural agents must achieve in the creative economy (Howkins, 2013), the economic sector constituted by artistic and cultural expressions, the design, the media, and all the activities in which creativity is the central resource and innovation is the goal (151). For some scholars, the attention that cultural and creative industries have today entails a renewal and reaffirmation of the artist not only as a cultural agent but also as an economic key actor (Florida, 2012; Howkins, 2013). For other researchers, this is not a restoration of the artist s social role but rather the aestheticization of the economy (O Brien, 2014), which implies that, to some extent, the field of cultural production encompasses nowadays its inner values and activities with a business model organization (Davies and Sigthorsson, 2013). In this paradigm of culture and creativity as resources for economic development, cultural and artistic values are part of a

5 20 Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production discourse of universal commensuration in which objects and practices are measured with economic criteria (Guillory, 1994: 323). Moreover, in spite of the fact that cultural goods and events have an economic value, there is a problem concerning measuring the cultural field products and processes (Towse, 2010), mainly due to the complex nature of cultural value, which comprehends aesthetic qualities, spiritual properties, social and historic factors, symbolic traits, and also the property of authenticity (Throsby, 2003). Furthermore, cultural value is not conceived anymore as an inherent and timeless property of a special kind of object and practice, rather assessments of cultural value are formed on the basis of a negotiated process involving interchange and interactions between individuals (33). From this, one can infer that there is a reciprocal connection between the positioning and the values that accredit a cultural agent s location inside the field of cultural production, since the operations of assessment influence and are influenced at the same time by the position-takings into the field. In the artistic world, the concept of value is often defined as an operation of exchanges either between meanings, expectations, and interpretations or between cultural qualities and economic possibilities (Groys, 2014). Thus, it can be implied that the structure and functioning of art systems, as well as its values and practices, are influenced not only by economic, but also by political, and social factors. Based on the above, and complementing the Bourdieusian theory of the field of cultural production, Maanen s study examines the foundations of the artistic field. According to Maanen s point of view, the organization of any art system depends on specific economic conditions, which are the types of financing for artistic projects and cultural initiatives (Maanen, 2009). In addition, artistic and cultural freedom is sometimes constrained by the values promoted by political regimes (228). Together with this, any artistic or cultural utterance is developed into a distribution context, which implies directly involved entities and agents such as artists, cultural promoters and managers, curators, museums, galleries, universities, to mention a few, as well as indirectly involved actors and organizations (244). It is pertinent to reiterate that the theoretical framework of this study was mainly based on Bourdieu s theory of the field of cultural production. But, in addition, Maanen s analysis of the organization and functioning of art worlds was also a fundamental approach for this research. From Bourdieu, his depiction of the field as a space of relations and position-takings were retaken, as well as his statements about the autonomous and heteronomous principles of hierarchization, in order to distinguish between internal values of the field and those external to it (Bourdieu, 1993). From Maanen, his examination of the factors that are involved in the processes of artistic or cultural production, distribution, and reception (Maanen, 2009), and to define a set of criteria that aided to analyze the means by which an individual is positioned and accredited as a cultural agent was quite useful. 2. Methodology For this study, the qualitative method was employed to understand a phenomenon that is defined by the interactions between specific individuals. Qualitative research aims to examine the values, attitudes, and behaviors that determine social situations and organizational forms (Bryman, 2012), and is the most suitable approach for the purpose of this research, which is to examine the factors and values that validate the positioning and crediting of a person as a cultural agent into the field of cultural production in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The research design was descriptive, as the study was oriented to identify patterns that operate under certain circumstances (Walliman, 2011). The research question that directed this investigation referred both to a

6 21 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, V9N3, 2017 situation as well as to a social organizational form and was expressed as follows: by which means and values will an individual be positioned and accredited as a cultural agent in the field of cultural production of Nuevo León state? In order to answer this question, the qualitative method approach and a descriptive research design were chosen, with the interview being the main strategy for collecting data. Also, there was a need to establish a set of criteria for the selection of research participants. Two main criteria were established to select participants who were able to share detailed information about the research subject. The first criterion addressed the activities that potential participants have performed throughout their careers, either creating artworks, promoting cultural events, managing cultural or/and educative institutions, or teaching and researching arts or even fulfilling all these activities at the same time. The second criterion considered the years of experience of each prospective participant as well as their degree of involvement in the local field of cultural production. The standard experience was from 5 to 10 years, and for the degree of involvement, it was considered an active and uninterrupted career path of potential participants either as artists, cultural promoters or managers, or as art professors. Sociodemographic characteristics were involved in this study, since the potential participants were supposed to have a very specific profile which consisted of all of them holding a bachelor s degree as a minimum education level, or a master s or doctorate degree, as maximum education level. Also, due to the range of experience required for this research, the age of the prospective participants was expected to be within the range from 25 years old and up. The research strategy for this study was the interview, which was designed as semistructured, with both closed and open-ended questions. This type of interview focuses mainly on the interviewee s perceptions and perspective, aiding to obtain more comprehensive answers that can provide detailed information about the research subject (Bryman, 2012). The interviews were composed of eight framing questions from which there were three closed questions that referred to the factors by which a cultural agent gains a position into the field of cultural production. The other five were open-ended questions that addressed the means that aid the cultural agents to validate their activities and their opinions about the openness of the local field of cultural production. Moreover, during the interviews, the research participants were encouraged to add all the complementary data to support the responses they gave both to the closed and open-ended questions. For the analysis of the information collected through the interviews, the pattern coding method was used in order to reduce the data to specific topics in which certain patterns were identified (Walliman, 2011). Consequently, the research results were organized into three main topics that will be covered in the following section. 3. Results This research addressed the means and the values by which a person who is committed to the cultural creation, promotion, teaching or management, gains a position and is credited as a cultural agent in a local field of cultural production. The main sources used were publications about the functioning of art worlds and cultural organization and information collected from interviewing local cultural agents. The general analysis of all the compiled data was made by confronting the theories about art world constitution and culture structural models with the information given by the interviewees. The analysis of eight consolidated cultural agents perceptions and experiences provided insights about the ways of positioning and the values to be credited inside of a local field of cultural production. The research centered on the Mexican state

7 22 Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production of Nuevo León, specifically on Monterrey and San Pedro Garza García, its leading municipalities in terms of cultural offerings and economic leadership. The two criteria for selecting the research participants were their years of involvement in the field either as an artist, manager, promoter or teacher, and the main activities they have carried out in their cultural trajectory. It is necessary to mention that from fifty cultural agents convened, thirty-nine acceded to be interviewed. From those who agreed to collaborate with the study, eleven are artists and professors, nine are artists, professors and promoters, six are managers and professors, seven are artists and gallerists, and six are managers and promoters. All of the research participants have experience in the field from 10 to 20 years and each of them participates actively in either artistic production, cultural promotion and management, arts teaching or arts research. The findings obtained from the analysis showed an overview of the inner functioning of the local field of cultural production, as represented by the opinions, knowledge and the direct involvement of the cultural agents who were interviewed. The results were as follows: a) factors that enable the positioning in local field of cultural production, and that may be related to the domain of production or to the domain of distribution; b) the instruments and means that validate cultural work, that is specialized criticism, or institutionalized spaces and events, or market success; and c) their perceptions about the openness and inclusiveness of the local field of cultural production Factors of positioning on local field of cultural production This topic addressed the factors that enable the insertion and positioning of an aspiring cultural agent in the local field of cultural production. As stated by research participants interviews, there are two main classes of circumstances that define the inclusion of a person who is willing to pertain to the local cultural scene. First, the factors of the domain of cultural production, such as the dominant aesthetic values or the stylistic, adherence to a certain artistic movement or philosophical school. Second, those which are related to the domain of cultural distribution which includes skills like public relations, self-management, and collaborative promotional work. In connection with this, 38.4% percent (15 out of 39) of the interviewees stated that the aesthetic values are the most important factors that influence the positioning in the local field of cultural production. Only 14.5% percent (7 out of 39) thought that all the skills referred to the distribution domain are the principal means for positioning in the local field of cultural production. Thirtyfive-point four percent (17 out of 39) of the research participants gave mixed responses, arguing that there is a reciprocal influence between the domains of production and distribution. From those participants point of view, a stylistic choice or the values expressed on an artwork influence and are influenced by the cultural agent s self-management capabilities or the artistic or cultural event promotional background Means to validate cultural work This topic covered the research participants perceptions of the channels and instruments that validate a cultural agent s work. According to the interviewees responses, there are three major means that ratify the activities of an aspiring cultural agent: specialized criticism, presence in institutionalized spaces and events, and market success. Thirty-three-point three percent (13 out of 39) of the research participants declared that the most effective ways to validate an artist, a

8 23 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, V9N3, 2017 promoter or manager, or an art educator are the critical essays or specialized reviews on their work, while 53.8% percent (21 out of 39) of them believed that what validates the work of a cultural agent is his or her involvement in an institutionalized space and events, such as a museum, a gallery, a cultural center or an art exhibition. Only 12.8% percent (5 out of 39) of the interviewees stated that profits obtained from a successful cultural event or from the sale of artworks were adequate means to validate the work of a cultural agent. It is opportune to summarize the research participants additional commentaries on this topic. All of the interviewees indicated that there are external factors as well as other internal mechanisms that intervene in the organization of the local field of cultural production, thereby influencing both positioning and accreditation of cultural agents. The external circumstances are referred to as political contingencies, specifically the transition from one regime to another and the consequences that this entails: the cancellation of certain public policies on culture and the implementation of others designed by the officials of the current regime and the cuts of public funds and subsidies on arts and culture. The other internal means that also influence the cultural agents positioning and validation are the asymmetries between artistic discourses and audiences aesthetic competences Cultural agents perceptions on local field of cultural production On this topic, the results are concerned with the research participants perceptions and opinions about the openness and inclusiveness of the local field of cultural production, that is, the ease or difficulty with which an aspiring cultural agent integrates into the field and is acknowledged by his or her peers. Thirty-five-point eight percent (14 out of 39) of the interviewees were of the opinion that the local field of cultural production, in its current status, is a more democratic and inclusive sphere, but the aspiring cultural agents must fulfill certain conditions and traits in order to be admitted and accepted as part of the field. The other 64.1% (25 out of 39) of the research participants considered that positioning and being credited as a cultural agent is a very difficult process and partly depends on extrinsic circumstances. Furthermore, the interviewees who affirmed that there is more openness and inclusiveness in the local field of cultural production also stated that positioning and accreditation rely on being able to constitute a critical artistic discourse, to collaborate with other artists, art educators, cultural promoters, and managers, to have skills like self-promotion, self-management and public relations, and to educate society on critical thinking and freedom through aesthetic utterances. The research participants who believed in the problematic inclusion and validation in the local field of cultural production added that there are external factors that obstruct the aspiring cultural agents positioning and accreditation, reiterating circumstances such as the cuts and centralization of funds, the shortage of subsidies, the lack of support for artistic and cultural development and the irregular interaction between cultural agents and audiences. 4. Conclusion Each of the topics addressed above exhibit the values that an aspiring cultural agent must accomplish in order to be credited as such. The skill to perform several activities is one of the desirable attributes that a cultural agent must have: he or she has to be capable of creating his/her own artworks, as well as to promote and manage his/her own activities, and also to elaborate a critical discourse about his/her own work. That is, the cultural agent must be a creator, a

9 24 Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production promoter, a manager, and a critic. There is a possible explanation for this phenomenon. Marchands, gallerists, promoters, and critics are mediators between art and audiences. They can influence the economic assessment of the artwork, in the channels of its distribution, and in its reception and perception. However, these intermediaries belong to the distribution domain of the art world (Maanen, 2009), which means that they are not directly involved in the creation of cultural and artistic goods. So, in the pursuit of autonomy and self-sufficiency, as well as to shorten the distance between art and audiences, cultural creators assumed the functions of promotion, management, and critical thought, becoming multitasking agents. The results also demonstrate that there are three accepted discourses about the positioning and legitimization of cultural agents. The first one refers to their participation in institutionalized events and spaces, the second one is the academic recognition they could achieve through their activities, and the third one alludes to their market success (Stallabras, 2004). According to the research, there is a greater adherence to the institutional validation and a minimum cohesion to the economic achievements. Nonetheless, the cultural agents that approve the institutional discourse are consolidated ones. They are positioned in the field of cultural production as well as credited either as artists, promoter, managers, or professors. It is pertinent to point out that all of the interviewees are aware of the assumption of a corporate model by both public and private cultural institutions (Stallabras, 2004). This change radically affects the opportunities for funding artistic development (Maanen, 2009) and, consequently, the possibilities of aspiring cultural agents to gain a position inside the field and to be accredited by the experts. Furthermore, there are extrinsic factors involved in the organization of the local artistic field. Due to the shortage of public financing for the arts and culture, aspiring cultural agents must fund their activities by alternative means, such as family support, private patronage, or commissioned works (Maanen, 2009). Besides the economic aspects, there are also political aspects that influence cultural production and distribution. The artistic and cultural freedom, as well as the values that cultural agents must realize, will depend on the orientation of public policy. In addition, according to the principles of legitimacy proposed by Bourdieu (1993), there is a process that all aspiring cultural agents must complete. First, they must be recognized by other cultural agents (specific principle of legitimacy), which means that they have gained a position in the field of cultural production. Second, they must obtain the approval of the institutional authorities, such as museums or universities (institutional principle of legitimacy), and in this way, they are credited as cultural agents. Lastly, if they are acknowledged by large audiences, if they become popular, they will have reached the consecration bestowed by the choice of ordinary consumers (Bourdieu, 1993: 51). This research aimed to provide an insight into the functioning of a local field of cultural production. Through the analysis of the values and means to be credited as a cultural agent, it can be demonstrated that the artistic field in Nuevo León is affected by both economic and political factors. The distinction between cultural production domain and cultural distribution context, based on Maanen s ideas (2009), allowed to comprehend why a cultural agent is often a creator, a promoter, a manager, and a critic at the same time. Also, Bourdieu s theses were essential to the discernment of the logic and processes to be included in the field of cultural production as well as to be credited as a cultural agent. Although this study scope was limited to the Mexican state of Nuevo León, it can be an aid to obtain a deeper knowledge about the general dynamics of the field of cultural production.

10 25 Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, V9N3, 2017 Acknowledgement This research was supported by the Programa de Apoyo a la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (PAICyT), a program financed by the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, as well as by the Apoyo de Fomento a la Generación y Aplicación Innovadora del Conocimiento, and, and by the Fortalecimiento de Cuerpos Académicos, both financed by the Programa para el Desarrollo Profesional Docente, para el Tipo Superior (PRODEP). The author of this article also thanks Courtney Lindahl for her support and to all of the research participants. References Alexander, J. C. (2003). The Meanings of Social Life. A Cultural Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. Amores, J. E. (2007). Monterrey: una cultura propia. In I. Ortega Ridaura (Coord.), Nuevo León en el siglo XX. Del Segundo auge industrial a la crisis de Monterrey: Fondo Editorial de Nuevo León Benjamin, Walter (1969). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books, Bourdieu, P. (1993). The Field of Cultural Production. Essays on Art and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press. Davies, R. and Sigthorsson, G. (2013). Introducing the Creative Industries. From Theory to Practice. California: Sage Publications. Dickie, G. (2001). Art and Value. California: Blackwell Publishers Inc. Florida, R. (2012). The Rise of the Creative Class. New York: Basic Books. Groys, B. (2014). On the New. New York: Verso. Hartley, J. et al. (2013). Key Concepts in Creative Industries. California: Sage Publications. Howkins, J. (2013). The Creative Economy. How People Make Money from Ideas. London: Penguin Books. Luhmann, N. (2000). Art as a Social System. California: Stanford University Press. Maanen, H. (2009). How to Study Art Worlds. On the Societal Functioning of Aesthetic Values. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Nivón Bolán, E. and Villalobos Audifred, H. (2006). Perfil metropolitano del consumo cultural. Los casos de Guadalajara, Monterrey y el Distrito Federal. In L. Arizpe (Coord.), Retos Culturales de México frente a la globalización. México: Miguel Ángel Porrúa O Brien, D. (2014). Cultural Policy. Management, Value and Modernity in the Creative Industries. New York: Routledge. O Connor, J. (2010). The Cultural and Creative Industries: a Literature Review. London: Creative, Culture and Education. Rubio Elosúa, E. (2000). De promotores, instituciones y políticas culturales. In X. Moyssén (Ed.), Artes Plásticas de Nuevo León. 100 años de historia, siglo XX. Monterrey: Museo de Monterrey Stallabras, J. (2004). Art Incorporated. The Story of Contemporary Art. New York: Oxford University Press.

11 26 Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production Throsby, D. (2003). Economics and Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press. Towse, R. (2013). A Textbook of Cultural Economics. New York: Cambridge University Press. UNDP (2013). Creative Economy Report. New York: UNESCO/UNDP. Walliman, N. (2011). Research Methods. The Basics. New York: Routledge. Jesús Eduardo Oliva Abarca is Ph. D. in Arts and Humanities. He is currently working as a Research Professor in the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México. He is author of articles in national and international scientific journals. His areas of academic and research interests include cultural and creative industries, sociology of art and literature, and digital culture.